Despite one of the wettest Augusts on record, and a poor start to September, the usual peaks and troughs in production (although not too bad it seems this year) and the real threat of the new ‘living wage’, UK soft fruit growers remain optimistic. They are, by nature, optimistic folk.
Results with Botanicoir’s products have been excellent again this season, testament to the consistent and accurate grading, washing and buffering that has seen Botanicoir develop and lead the market to this point.
Driven by the loss of soil sterilants, planning issues, and rising labour costs, the move into substrate production marches on across the UK, with the last of the ‘soil only’ growers now dipping their toes in the water.
Plans are advanced for the 2016 season, with many growers now committed to both plants and Botanicoir deliveries. With the introduction of one or two interesting varieties this year, both strawberry and raspberry, it seems that varietal choice and plant availability remain key to production plans.
This autumn we have had the familiar discussion of ‘troughs vs bags’ for growers just entering the substrate market. Troughs are flexible, allow plant movement without root disturbance, allow the use of naked Botanicoir slabs, and can be used in both ground and raised systems. Bags require less initial investment, make plant spacing easier, are available in black or white to force/delay crops, and avoid the surface of the coir being exposed. Both are worthy of investigation, and both can employ Botanicoir Precision Plus substrate, which is very important.
Next year will see more work carried out by Agrovista UK and Botanicoir Ltd to further improve the substrate offer – watch this space.
Most weeks we receive a call from somewhere in the world from a grower or agronomy business stating that the UK has a reputation for leading the way in substrate fruit production, and that they see the grower is using Botanicoir – and can we help them? This is a real feather in the cap for the UK soft fruit industry, and one that growers should be rightly proud of – only five years ago the Dutch would have been the ‘go to’ nation for such advice.
Sustainability at a time when global demand for coir is rising is more important than ever for UK growers. It’s important that, although many thousands of miles away from the point of production, UK growers and Agrovista understand that they remain a priority for Botanicoir, over and above the new, still developing markets.
The 2015/2106 season looks like being busier than ever already, with production now full until early 2016 as I write this (September 2015), with a greater variety of bag sizes and plant/dripper holes combinations than ever before, as we work with growers to modify Botanicoir products to best suit their evolving systems.
